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Timeline 2025: The Orbán vs Magyar battle heats up

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This is a detailed timeline of events in Hungarian politics in 2025. You can also check out:

Tisza v Fidesz timeline 2024
Tisza v Fidesz timeline 2026

January

  • 1 January: Things kicked off within minutes of the New Year with Péter Magyar taking over the traditional midnight address from the president after he decided he didn’t feel like doing it this year. Magyar’s speech was widely praised and got a million views within one day on Facebook and YouTube. He also called for the 2026 elections to be brought forward — pretty brazen considering he doesn’t have his candidates lined up yet. 
  • At the end of last year, Orbán said the economy would get off to a “flying start” this year – maybe he meant it literally as he flew off to India on vacation. Although you can’t fault him for taking holidays, it’s not a good look as he has the country in a State of Emergency and because one of his last social posts pre-Christmas was alluding to the fact that the work never stops.
  • 7 January: In an incredible turn of events, Fidesz politician Antal Rogán (and a total creep in my personal view) was placed on the US sanctions list for “orchestrating Hungary’s system for distributing public contracts and resources to cronies loyal to himself and the Fidesz political party.”
  • 12 January: Mid-term elections are held in Tolna county. Tisza doesn’t participate and Fidesz wins. Fidesz accuses Tisza of not being brave enough to run, which is silly  because Tisza’s focus is winning the next general election not having one stray in parliament now. Orbán jokes that this election is the early election that Magyar wanted. It’s a funny joke, but also shows that Magyar is getting under Orbán’s skin.
  • 14 January: When Tisza first got into the European Parliament last year Magyar put it to a social media vote as to whether he should pick up his mandate or stay in Hungary to campaign full-time. At the time, he promised to retake the vote in six months to make sure people were happy for him to continue as an EU Parliamentarian. Well, today is the day and it was once again voted (with 95%) that he should keep his EU mandate. It’s a funny stunt and a good way to engage his supporters and stay in the news cycle.
  • 16 January: Gergely Gulyás, one of Fidesz’s most prominent politicians, calls Magyar a traitor. In response, Magyar explains why Gulyás is the traitor. It’s interesting because they are former besties,and Gulyás is godfather to one of Magyar’s children.
  • 16 January: Magyar claims that one of Tisza’s volunteers was physically attacked.
  • 18 January: A Hungarian rapper called Majka releases a music video where the character representing Magyar gives a truth serum to the character representing Orbán. In it, the Orbán character then reveals all of his corruption and misdeeds in a live TV interview. The clip gets more than 10 million views within a few days. Read more here. It’s funny because Majka was previously close to Fidesz, and when Orbán did a fun pop quiz and was asked “Azahriah or Majka?” he chose Majka.
  • As part of his role Magyar speaks several times at the European Parliament this month.
  • 26 January: Out of nowhere, Orbán posts a video claiming victory over Covid-19 and how well it was handled. It is bizarre as a huge number of Hungarians died and the pandemic was ages ago. As a quick reaction, Magyar publishes a live video where he talks with Dr András Kulja  — one of Tisza’s EU representatives. Their video gets many more views than Orbán’s one.
  • 28 January: Tamás Deutsch — Fidesz MEP attempts to speak English. Not bad for 20 years in an international role! And here’s a funny comparison mashup of Deutsch vs Tisza MEP Dóra Dávid.
  • 31 January: Orbán does his usual performative release of his tax return, which shows that he basically has $30,000 dollars to his name and a couple of modest properties. Who believes this rubbish? 
  • Magyar reports that workers at a pre-school were sacked or put on notice for accepting Tisza’s Christmas gift donations in December. If this story is true, it is truly diabolical.
  • A very convoluted story broke in Jan/Feb whereby the City of Budapest (with the support of Tisza) was able to quickly buy back a huge tract of land in Rákosrendező that the Hungarian government had sold to Arab investors. The planned development, dubbed “Maxi Dubai,” caused such uproar because it would change the skyline, give control of prime land to foreign investors, and would have been a hotbed of corruption. (Illustrated below by Euronews.)

February

  • 2 February: It is the 1-year anniversary of this article where Balázs Kaufmann revealed that the then President Katalin Novák had given clemency to someone who protected a pedophile. Although she resigned shortly after this revelation, one year on she has still failed to explain her decision.
  • 2 February: Tisza announces that as part of its Ludas Matyi Foundation it would be distributing free firewood to those in need. Ricsi — the official campaign truck — makes its return as we hadn’t seen him since last summer.
  • 3 February: Gábor Pósfai, the former CEO of Decathlon (a European sports store chain), becomes COO of the Tisza Party.
  • 4 February: Fidesz announces that it will be putting Hungary’s biggest train stations up for tender. And the way these things go in Hungary, they will no doubt go to those close to the government. In Hungary, train stations are important hubs and the buildings are often of historic importance. They are everyone’s — and do not belong in the hands of a few oligarchs and foreign investors. Tisza announces that it will do everything it can to stop this transaction once in power.
  • 6 February: It is the 10-year anniversary of the O1G movement…which refers to when one of Orbán’s former besties-come-oligarchs Lajos Simicska said “Orbán egy geci” (“Orbán is an asshole”) way back in 2015 when they had a public spat. The “O1G” moniker became a shorthand way to criticise or show disdain for Orbán.
  • 7 February: A documentary called “The Dynasty” is released on YouTube – it’s about the Orbán family’s corruption. By the end of the year it would have almost 4 million views.
  • 10 February: It is the 1-year anniversary of Péter Magyar’s Facebook post that kicked off this whole story. It was in this post that he announced his defection from Fidesz, resigned his government positions and talked about how Fidesz uses its power to steal the country’s wealth. The reason this was so noteworthy was that Magyar was the Justice Minister’s ex-husband and in the thick of the Fidesz milieu — so it was not just “anyone” speaking out. This then led to a long interview on Partizán, which then led to him starting his “Talpra Magyarok!” movement and eventually the Tisza Party. 
  • 11 February: Magyar heads into the Partizán studio for a 1-year anniversary interview. It does not go well because the interviewer Márton Gulyás is very combative and aggressive, and Magyar is not one to let an attack go unanswered. 
  • 15 February: Tisza holds its 2025 congress in Budapest. Basically a conference where they introduce some of their policies and new people. The biggest news of the day is that Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi the former Chief of the Hungarian Defence Forces has joined Tisza. In addition, the former head of the Hungarian Olympic Committee, and the well-known activist Kriszta Bódis who founded the “Van Helyed” (“You Belon!”) foundation also side with Tisza. All three are ruthlessly attacked by government media.
  • 21 February: In an unfortunate turn of events Magyar withdrew from his planned events with one of my favourite commentators Róbert Puzsér. The event was called “10 problems with Péter Magyar and what he needs to do about these if he wants to make systemic change.” Unfortunately, the government propaganda pre-emptively attacked Puzsér about nuanced comments he’d made earlier about pedophilia, and Magyar didn’t want to take the risk of being associated with him. 
  • 22 February: Orbán holds his annual “year in review” address. Nothing really to report, but it is funny that Magyar happens to be playing football with his boys nearby and he almost has an impromptu run-in with that creep Tamás Menczer.
  • 22 February: Judges and court staff hold a protest to demand judicial independence, freedom of expression for judges, and better pay.
  • 24 February: In an example of political retribution, Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi is fired from his role as a lecturer at the National University of Public Service.
  • 27 February: Magyar heads to Sorpon where there is a big brouhaha due to the closure of childcare facilities. 

March

  • 1 March: Magyar starts yet another tour of regional Hungary. Even in -2 degrees on a dark weeknight thousands of people turn out to hear him speak. In one funny anecdote (pictured above), Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi does pushups on stage after running late — a traditional military punishment. 
  • 5 March: As part of the regional tour Magyar stops off in Hódmezővásárhely to eat a “Bindzsisztán” cake. This cake shop has become famous for its anti-Fidesz designs. This time, the icing design is a reference to the anti-Fidesz Majka video clip where the corrupt Orbán character is the Prime Minister of a fictional country called Bindzsisztán. 
  • 8 March: Doctors and medical professionals protest demanding a systemic overhaul to the collapsing healthcare system. Issues include, overcrowding, lack of doctors and nurses, outdated medical equipment and facilities, inadequate funding, growing waiting lists, and preventable deaths due to all of the above.
  • 9 March: Magyar does this heartbreaking interview with a lady about how she stretches her small pension given inflation.
  • Magyar takes trips to Paris, Strasbourg, Munich and Stuttgart for various meetings and speeches.
  • 11 March: Tisza releases a campaign song. It’s a bit naff but within a couple of weeks it has 1.3 million views on YouTube
  • 12 March: There was drama in the European Parliament because somehow Magyar’s signature was faked on a document to do with arms transport to Ukraine. Officials are investigating.
  • 13 March: Magyar calls for both him and Orbán to release their medical records. 
  • 15 March: The Tisza team does a beautiful commemoration for the 1848 revolution. The speeches, the music, the Hungarian flags being waved by the crowd, it was truly uplifting. Within a few days, they also release a behind-the-scenes video highlighting the work of volunteers which is cool. On the other side, Orbán disgraces himself by referring to the Tisza side as “stink bugs” in his speech, saying “átteleltek a poloskák” (“the bugs survived winter”).
  • 15 March: Tisza announces “The Nation’s Voice” survey where 12+1 questions will be asked about the country’s future. The survey will help with voter outreach and data collection with Tisza activists aiming to reach as many people as possible.
  • 19 March: Magyar announces his relationship with his assistant Ilona Szabó “Ili”. 
  • Polls reveal that the Tisza part is still in the lead although the gap has slightly closed and the difference seems to have stabilised to about a 3 point lead in poll averages. An interesting survey by Medián also showed that people trust Tisza far more than Fidesz to do things like reduce inflation, bring home frozen EU funds, reduce corruption, improve the healthcare system etc.
  • 21 March: Magyar gives an interview in English to Deutche Welle. 
  • 22 March: Magyar suggests the both he and Orbán reveal the tax returns of not just themselves but their family members as well.
  • Magyar continues his tour of regional Hungary, with voting underway for “The Nation’s Voice,” but tensions rise with several incidents of Fidesz supporters yelling at Tisza volunteers, kicking the voting stands and generally being menaces. Big crowds continue to gather, even in the rain and cold weather.
  • 24 March: Dezső Farkas, one of the senior people in Tisza, announces that he’s leaving the party and starting his own thing. There were some rumours about corruption issues to do with his wife so he may have been asked to leave, but Farkas claims he left due to internal disagreements.
  • 25 March: Magyar announces that he will run as a candidate in Budapest voting district number 3 (not be confused with the 3rd district). This electorate mainly covers the 12th district which is the Buda Hills where a lot of wealthy people live. It just so happens to also be where Orbán and Magyar both live as well. A funny aspect of Hungarian politics is that the leader of a political party does not have to actually run as an individual candidate and get in — they can get in by leading the party list. With Magyar making this announcement, he is reminding people that Orbán has actually never been voted in as an individual. And it indicates that Magyar is brave enough to take the risk. Plus, it’s kept him at the top of the news cycle yet again.
  • 28 March: In the latest episode of “You Can’t Make This Shit Up” Fidesz politician János Lázár gave a speech in which he said that those people who’ve benefited off the Fidesz regime and live a luxe life without giving back to the community are “blood-sucking ticks“. Hello János! Time to wake up! You are in the ruling party, if you’ve allowed taxpayer money to be spent that way then that’s on you, too! Of course, he wouldn’t elaborate whether the outrageous wealth of Orbán’s friends and family or even Lázár himself could be classified at “luxizás.”. 
  • Magyar calls on Orbán to calm his followers because they have been so aggressive with Tisza volunteers.
  • There are also reports that a 29-year-old civilian worked for the Hungarian government had her hand and forearm blown off by a hand-grenade during some kind of voluntary military training excursion.  
  • Zebra-gate kicks off with revelations that Orbán’s oligarch mater Lőrinc Mészáros own zebras.
  • The State Audit Office (ÁSZ) publishes a report showing serious irregularities in how the Hungarian National Bank (MNB) mismanaged 500-600 billion forints (more than 1 billion euros) that had been held in foundations. Magyar was quick to call this the biggest bank heist in Hungary’s history. The alleged theft is linked to the previous Governor of the National Bank, György Matolcsy, his son Ádám and other associates. It’s also alleged that the son, Ádám, was moving money using the woman’s pseudonym, Petra Kovács. 
  • Orbán‘s daughter, Sára, was papped vacationing using a private jet.

April

  • Despite promises of a “flying start”, the first quarter GDP results were below expectations.
  • Magyar continues his tour of regional Hungary giving his stump speeches and promoting the “Nemzet Hangja” (“Nation’s Voice”) survey where people get to answer questions about the country’s future. The survey is a clever way to collect voter data (which he’ll need for marketing purposes) and to get people’s point of view on key questions. Huge crowds greet him everywhere he goes including Bekescsaba, Miskolc and Debrecen. All in all he holds speeches in 115 locations.
  • Fidesz supporters attack Tisza information booths and volunteers, including verbal abuse, kicking the stands, snatching items from volunteers, and one car even ramming into a booth. Magyar calls on both the Prime Minister and President to calm their supporters down – but neither does.
  • Magyar reaches 500,000 Facebook followers — still far off Orbán’s 1 million+ followers but getting there.
  • In a further example of the absurdity of Hungarian politics, President Tamás Sulyok does an interview about the low level of political discourse stating that someone called him a “bag of farts” (“szatyor fing“) — an instantly iconic line.
  • A foot-and-mouth disease outbreak affects cattle
  • 7 April: Tisza’s European Parliament representative Kinga Kollar makes an unfortunate blunder when she says in a committee hearing that the EU withholding funds from Hungary has unfortunately led to a deteriorating quality of life but that it could benefit Tisza by increasing dissatisfaction with Fidesz ahead of the 2026 elections. While this is factually true, a politician should never express any level of happiness about a drop in quality of life especially by tying it to its own political success. Naturally, there is footage of Fidesz politicians having a similar sentiment back in 2006.
  • 10 April: The 21 Kutatokozpont polling company measures that Tisza is at 51% and Fidesz at 37% among those who say they will definitely vote (voting is not compulsory in Hungary). This means 1 in 2 people support Tisza and it’s significant as there has never been a result like this for an opposition party against Fidesz.
  • 13 April: Tisza holds a rally in Budapest where it announces the results of The Nation’s Voice survey.
  • 13 April: One of Fidesz’s healthcare team, Péter Takács, makes a ridiculous claim that Tisza is to blame for hospitals not being improved because they “support” the EU withholding funds (Tisza does not support it). Let’s review the facts shall we: Fidesz has had 15+ years in power to fix hospitals. Over much of this time the government received huge sums of money from the EU to do just that. Instead, Fidesz people stole that money and didn’t fix the hospitals. Three years ago, Fidesz was punished for its corruption with the EU withholding funds. Tisza was founded one year ago. Your math ain’t mathing Péter Takács — don’t try to blame Péter when it’s your Party at fault.
  • 14 April: Fidesz introduces three new incendiary changes to the Fundamental Law: 1) Dual citizens can have their Hungarian citizenship suspend if they are deemed to pose a threat to the country’s security or sovereignty 2) A ban on public events held by LGBTQ+ communities — which is also seen as a threat to general freedom of assembly and expression i.e. other types of protests, and 3) A provision that people can only be male or female. Péter Magyar refuses to be drawn on these — especially the one relating to Pride — because it is a trap set by Fidesz to paint him as a woke lefty.
  • 15 April: Even Ágoston Sámuel Mráz of the Nézőpont Institute (a pollster known to be close to Fidesz) says that the “scissor is closing” on Fidesz — meaning polls are showing Tisza is catching up to Fidesz. Of course, poll averages show Tisza in the lead — but this would be hard for Fidesz pollsters to admit publicly.
  • 15 April: Antal Rogan is removed from the sanctions list. (He had been on the US Department of the Treasury’s Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons List since January due to his corruption.) No explanation was given other than it being in the United States national interest. Probably a favour to Orbán — for what in exchange?
  • 15 April: Péter is represented in a meme where him waving a Hungarian flag was photoshopped to show him waving a Ukrainian flag. Fidesz is trying to paint him as an agent for Ukraine. How ridiculous! For some silly reason Ukraine’s hypothetical membership of the Ukraine is a key topic. Once again, let’s focus on Hungarian domestic matters — hospitals, schools, inflation etc etc.
  • 19-22 April: Over the Easter long weekend Péter heads to Hollókő, which is where a well-known Easter tradition of throwing water on girls takes place. Easter is the perfect example why Péter is winning the Facebook game.
  • 24 April: Orbán again says something incidendiary about the opposition — Hungarian people. There is a a line in the Hungarian national anthem that refers to Hungary’s past misfortunes (“balsors”) and Orbán says that Tisza supporters are part of the nation like bad fate “balsors” is in the anthem. 
  • 24 April: Péter makes a claim that Orbán’s son-in-law István Tiborcz has sought citizenship of the UAE. This is interesting because there are claims about how much money Tiborcz has stolen and that the UAE doesn’t have an extradition treaty with Hungary meaning that if he is held to account should Fidesz lose the election he might try to flee. The UAE does have a citizenship-for-investment program but there is no evidence right now that Tiborcz has applied for citizenship and he’s denied it. It’s a random claim to just “make up” and it’s known that Péter has insider info from within Fidesz, so it could be true but time will tell.
  • 26 April: Péter heads to Rome for the Pope’s funeral.
  • 30 April: Horrible economic numbers are announced.

May

  • 8 May: Péter releases a secretly recorded tape from April 2023 when Defence Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky said that Hungary is in phase 0 of preparing for a war footing. This is interesting because Orbán has been talking for years about it being the party of peace. And it’s significant because — where did this tape come from? Who is the mole within Fidesz feeding info to Péter? 
  • 8 May: Ferenc Gyurcsany — hated former Prime Minister and opposition figure — resigns from politics. Well, his wife and politician Klara Dobrev resigned him on his behalf on her Facebook page while also announcing their divorce.
  • 9 May: Reports come out that Ukraine has uncovered a Hungarian espionage network in the western part of Ukraine where there is a huge Hungarian minority. Allegedly two people were arrested for trying to collect military data. In response, Hungary arrests two Ukrainians that it alleges were spies under diplomatic cover.
  • 9 May: Orbán makes a speech that angers Hungarian living in Transylvania (Romania) by giving veiled support to Romanian presidential candidate George Simion. In the past, Simion has been horrible to Hungarian minorities and they did not vote in support of him in round 1 of the election. Hungarian Transylvanians see it as a betrayal by Orbán — someone they have overwhelmingly voted for in the past.
  • 14 May: In Response to Orbán’s sympathetic comments toward the Romanian candidate George Simion, Péter starts a symbolic 300-kilometre walk from Budapest to Nagyvárad (Oradea in Romanian), which is a city just across the Romanian border. He calls it “1 million steps for peace and national unity.” Along the way he is joined by hundreds of supporters for different legs of the journey.
  • 18 May: Nicușor Dan, the more pro-Western pro-European candidate, wins the Romanian Presidential election against George Simion.
  • 18 May: Fidesz announces it’s latest attempt to combat Péter Magyar, this time with a so called “Fight Club” (Harcosok Klubja), which is where they invite people to comment on social media in support of Fidesz. An alleged guide is leaked which tells Fight Clubbers the types of things to post…for example emojis, which is how the “zaszlo, zaszlo, sziv” line became a thing because the guide said to post two flags and a heart emoji.
  • 24 May: Péter Magyar arrives in the town of Nagyvárad (Oradea in Romanian) after 10 days of walking. He makes a speech in one of the squares that is about peace and unity.
  • 25 May: Tisza hosts a Children’s Day picnic at Margaret Island in Budapest — no rest for Péter, he showed up just a day after his big day in Romania. 
  • In the last few days of the month, Péter resumes trying to hand out gifts to Hungarian kids in children’s homes. You’ll recall he tried to do this many times pre-Christmas but often the government wouldn’t allow it. This time he appeared to have more success.
  • 26 May: Péter announces that he has insider info that the government might arrest Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi — the former head of the military who has now sided with Tisza — due to involvement in the Ukraine espionage scandal…. but…
  • The plot thickens, as Péter now reveals he has info that the Hungarian-Ukrainian István Holló (who Fidesz accuses of being a spy) actually has business ties to Fidesz.
  • A new scandal breaks with the director and deputy director of Budapest’s Szőlő Street Reformatory taken into custody on suspicion of human trafficking, forced labor, and other crimes. The director, Péter Pál Juhász, was previously recognised and honored by Fidesz.
  • 30 May: Orbán makes an ironic statement about how Ukrainian mafia members who escaped Ukraine and are now in Hungary getting around in huge cars and are not too savoury individuals. Péter clapped back with a video of Fidesz’s elite in luxury cars.
  • 30 May: Péter releases the Tisza Party’s financials for 2024.
  • 31 May: Péter announces that the Ludas Matyi foundation will cover the costs of legal fees for five teachers dismissed after protests in 2022 who had been fighting their unfair dismissal in the courts.

June

  • 1 June: Hungary’s richest man (and Orbán’s childhood friend-come-strawman-come-oligarch), Lőrinc Mészáros, is spotted in Munich by journalist Balázs Kaufmann who asks him whether it was necessary to travel by helicopter from the Budapest suburb of Budaörs to the airport then by private jet to Munich for a football game. This causes a public brouhaha because he is widely considered to have “stolen” his money from the Hungarian people via government contracts etc. When the journalists asks him how he got there, Mészáros utters one of the most iconic lines of the campaign, “gondolom, nem gyalog” (“I don’t think I walked”).
  • 2 June: Lőrincz Mészáros writes an open letter to Péter Magyar accusing him of seeking a high paying job at one of his firms and of asking to sit near him at events. It’s all a bit crass and laughable, considering it is Mészáros — not Magyar — who is broadly thought to have stolen hundreds of millions of euros from the Hungarian people, and the salary Magyar was allegedly asking for (less than 9000 euros a month) is essentially a normal executive salary at a western company — hardly a shocking sum. 
  • 2 June: Géza Jeszenszky (former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Ambassador) was attacked by someone on the street and then his son (a Fidesz supporter) said it was because he supports satan. Later in the month, the dad and Magyar meet at Somló for a commemoration of József Antall.
  • 4 June: The Fidesz government delays voting on its controversial media “transparency” law until autumn. (Note: Come autumn, it was never dealt with)
  • 4 June: Fidesz spokeswoman Eszter Vitalyos snaps at local councils saying, “előbb érdemes a saját házunk táján söprögetni, mielőtt az államhoz fordulunk, és sírunk-picsogunk,” essentially get your own house in order before you come to the government asking for help. It’s an unusual example of local-level politicians being more brazen in their criticism of Fidesz.
  • 9 June: Train delays, cancellations and derailments derail the start of summer holidays. János Lázár — the wouldbe replacement for Orbán — heads the infrastructure portfolio so it’s not a good look. In response, Péter sings a jokey version of the Hungarian children’s song “The steam engine goes to Kanizsa” but with all the lyrics changed to make fun of the infrastructure minister and the Fidesz government as a whole. Magyar’s voice has not improved BUT he never fails to do something attention grabbing!
  • 10 June: Orbán sends an article to his “Fight Club” claiming that Magyar is an alcoholic / drug user. Magyar refutes this and says he is happy to take a drug test any time, and calls on Fidesz politicians to do the same.
  • 10 June: It’s revealed that János Lázár has paintings worth hundreds of millions of forints at his Batidai castle. This is noteworthy because it’s Lázár who says he wants his fellow Fidesz pollies to stop living so luxuriously.
  • 12 June: Magyar announces he will be selling his shares (bar one) in 4iG Group after the government announced it’s privatising the majority stake in its defence industrial holding. Magyar also said that if Tisza is elected it will reverse the agreement.
  • 12 June: A citizen called Tamás Murvai asked Lázár a very good question that goes viral about the lack of progress Fidesz has made in 15 years. Magyar then then sat down with him for an extended interview.
  • 15 June: Alexandra Szentkirályi completely jumps the shark by posting a video showing a bound man in the trunk of her car. She’s trying to say that if Ukraine gets fast-tracked entry into the EU then there will be drug, arms and people traffickers, but she only managed to make herself look like a fool.
  • 16 June: Personal information about Tisza Sziget volunteers is hacked and leaked from a Discord server.
  • 18 June: Magyar announces that he told his EU Parliament EPP faction that the Tisza Party would hold a referendum on Ukraine joining the EU if and when the time comes.
  • 18 June: The disgraced former President Katalin Novák says she has had a “hellish year.” She still has not explained why she gave clemency to a pedophile protector. Magyar called on her to pay back her ongoing taxpayer funded salary.
  • 23 June: Magyar releases more photos and videos about the state of Hungarian healthcare — heating/cooling that isn’t working, lack of doors on theatre rooms, general dilapidation etc. 
  • 23 June: Tisza politician András Kulja and Fidesz politician Péter Takács hold a TV debate on healthcare
  • 26 June: A phenomenal graduate address by Dr Csongor Kincse highlighting the need for the next generation of doctors to help not just patients but reform the entire healthcare system
  • 28 June: Fidesz had tried to ban it (and Orban said organisers “neet not bother” organising it, but today was the biggest Pride in Budapest’s history with more than 250,000 people in attendance. It follows an offensive interaction by Fidesz minister Janos Lazar and his son where they were joking about not wanting to go to the horse races if pride had been held at the racetrack, as had been mooted as an idea.

July

  • 2 July: Famous Hungarian singer Azariah makes incendiary remarks about Fidesz supporters saying, “igazán szektás, értelmileg és mentálisan is visszamaradott véglények maradtak, mint Fidesz-szavazók” — “who’s really left as Fidesz voters are sect-like, intellectually and mentally backward bottom-feeders”
  • 3 July: Judit Varga makes incendiary remarks outside a court hearing calling her ex-husband Magyar a “képződmény” (a negative word, kind of like a “creature”) and saying she has had a wonderful year and a half since resigning in disgrace. Full video.
  • 8 July: Tisza holds its first child protection conference.
  • Orban’s daughter Ráhel announces she is moving to the US to study… even Orban’s own family is leaving…
  • In the European Parliament, Fidesz supports a proposal by the AUR – led by George Simion
  • 11 July: Tisza politicians publish their asset declarations 
  • 12 July: Orban and his wife Aniko are papped getting onto a Ryanair flight – noteworthy as they usually fly private
  • 13 July: Tisza holds a party congress in Nagykanizsa
  • 15 July: Magyar starts yet another tour of regional Hungary — this one called “80 Days Around Hungary”. While many politicians go on vacation, Magyar will work right through the summer break. During the first leg of the tour, Magyar takes multiple forms of transport as it’s great content for social media – canoeing, cycling, riding a vespa and a horse, driving a retro convertible car, even flying a small plane. He makes many speeches, does many Q&As, meetings many business owners, and even does things like flip hamburgers and make ice cream.
  • 20 July: Magyar makes more great content, this time doing the aura farming canoe dance
  • 20 July: More violence and aggression with a Fidesz person spitting and screaming at Tisza supporters
  • 27 July: Magyar holds a competing speech in Szekesfehervar to coincide with Fidesz’s traditional annual gathering at Tusvanyos. It becomes a foreign policy speech where Magyar talks about Hungary’s place being with Europe and the West, and that we need to regain our friendship with Poland.
  • 27 July: At Tusvanyos, Fidesz announces its new “Digital Civic Circles” (DPK) to help rally their supporters online because their previously announced Fight Clubs had a bit of a negative/aggressive connotation and they are badly behind Tisza in terms of comments, views, likes, and shares on social media.
  • 28 July: Magyar visits the Dohany St Synagogue in Budapest
  • 30 July: One of Fidesz’s propagandists, Csenge, tries to have a “gotcha moment” with Magyar. Full video.
  • Magyar ends the month by once again calling on Orban to do a televised debate

August

  • This month, Magyar’s 80-day tour of regional Hungary continues including many stops at local businesses from beekeepers to local pubs. You can catch him playing beach volleyball, riding a vespa, or playing darts.
  • 2 August: Magyar meets with Béla Markó in Marosvásárhely (Transylvania) who is a former Deputy Prime Minister of Romania and founder of RMDSZ (The Democratic Union of Hungarians in Romania). He also visits Parajd where a flood damaged the salt mine.
  • 5 August: Orban appears on a podcast with Dopeman, who also started a DPK. Dopeman is a celebrity rapper whose quotes include those about beating women and child sexual abuse. So much for Fidesz being family first.
  • 6 August: Orban makes a strange remark that if he would have been Judit Varga’s husband she could have become the Prime Minister. It’s not the first time he has floated that Varga would have made a good Prime Minister. It’s interesting because Magyar has alleged that Orban said to Varga: “Nem azért tartjuk magát, hogy erkölcsi, szakmai kifogásai legyenek” (“We don’t keep you here to have moral or professional objections.“)
  • 10 August: The EESZT medical information sharing website about patients stops working; a train catches fire; and there are reports that the water cannot be drunk at the Székesfehérvár hospital. At the hospital, women who have just given birth need to use bottled water for washing and flushing the toilets. There is apparently a bacteria in the water. There is a shocking report that tradies entered the room where one woman was giving birth to work on the pipes. Later there are reports that an 8-month-old baby is still sick from a bacteria she caught at the hospital earlier in the year.
  • 10 August: Franciska – en elderly lady – comes to one of Magyar’s stops and tries to whistle at him, but Magyar charms her. Full video.
  • The perfect example of how Magyar deals with propagandists questions
  • 11 August: Magyar announces that under the TISZA government, the National Tax and Customs Authority (NAV) will launch wealth accumulation investigations going back 20 years against all former government members and MPs, as well as their close relatives.
  • 11 August: Magyar reports about people who have faced job losses, loss of business, or even a fire on their farmland after they hosted Magyar during this regional tour.
  • 13 August: The Hungarian News Agency (MTI) published a statement according to which, Russian Foreign Intelligence Service claims that “the European Commission wants to bring about a change of power in Hungary.” Read more. Later, Magyar writes a letter to the Russian Embassy complaining about the interference. 
  • 16 August: Someone breaks into a Hungarian airbase and steals a bit of a MIG-29.
  • 19 August: Mi Hazank (Our Homeland) party leader László Toroczkai turns up at one of Magyar’s events — there is an ongoing debate about how close Fidesz and Mi Hazank truly are.
  • 20 August: Magyar holds his August 20 address at Pannonhalma where he announces the Szent Istvan Program. 
  • 21 August: After a Russian missile attack on Munkács (a Hungarian town, now in Ukraine), the president removes the word “Russian” when posting about the origin of the missile. Looks weak.
  • Fidesz politicians appear to go on vacation for much of the month, including Orban who was papped on a yacht and private jet, while Magyar continues to work and tour the country daily.
  • 25 August: After a propaganda newspaper claims that Magyar’s girlfriend Ilona Szabo is going on many holidays Magyar pays for, he angrily rejects the claim saying that any holidays she goes on – for example to visit her brother in Australia – she pays for from her own money.
  • 26 August: Fidesz dumps its long-time campaign manager, András Gyürk, replacing him with Balazs Orban.
  • The brouhaha about the Orban family’s Hatvanpuszta estate – a clear symbol of luxury and excess — rumbles on. Independent politician Akos Hadhazy is driving away from the estate when two security goons try to run him off the road, resulting in one of their cars flipping. Hadhazy kindly stops to help the man out of the car.
  • It’s reported that Orban’s daughter Rahel and son-in-law Istvan Tiborcz have moved to the US. 
  • 28 August: Tisza politician Zoltan Tarr makes an unfortunate comment saying that there are a lot of things you can’t talk about before an election as it might affect your chances. While it’s true — and all politicians instinctively know this — it’s a political mistake to say this so plainly in a public forum.
  • 29 August: An incredible moment where a mum of a disabled child asks Magyar for help and reassurance at one of his open forum Q&As.
  • Fidesz is campaigning that Tisza will lift taxes – which is not what Tisza’s policy is. It will reduce or keep current  taxes for normal people but implement an extra tax on the ultra-wealthy.
  • 30 August: Magyar says that it will remove government funding from “propaganda” publications, and make it a crime to knowingly report false statements after these have been clarified.
  • Orban is papped on holidays on a yacht — although later it’s alleged that he was there for work purposes as he was joined by Balazs Orban (no relation, campaign director), and others.
  • This month, Fidesz tries to score points against Magyar because he mistook a weed for being a sunflower.

September

  • 1 September: Magyar releases a fun video celebrating the summer that was with young people chanting “Filthy Fidesz” (“Mocskos Fidesz”) becoming the summer anthem at music festivals.
  • After Orban’s string of podcasts/interviews over summer, polls come out to show that Tisza is leading 52% to 36% some analysts say that Orban was not able to “save the day” as expected.
  • Fidesz politician Janos Lazar makes a strange remark during an ATV interview saying Fidesz has “better lies” that Tisza. 
  • 2 September: Magyar’s cult following cannot be understated. In this video you can see people bringing him gifts and treats.
  • 3 September: Tisza launches a tax calculator so that people can see their future salaries under Tisza’s tax policies. This is to combat the Fidesz campaign that complains that Tisza will increase taxes.
  • 5 September: Orban calls Tisza “vacuum cleaner salesmen” 
  • Orban is papped flying back from a football game on a private jet.
  • 7 September: Magyar organises a competing event to Fidesz’s annual strategy day at Kötcse. In the past Fidesz’s event has always been closed to the public, but due to Magyar’s public event in the same town, Fidesz’s forced to televise theirs. It is at this event that Orban threatens his own supporters telling them, “nothing will be forgotten, everything will be noted, and everything will be dealt with.” Prior to this event Orban called Magyar a “little rooster” — so Magyar brings a mini rooster on stage with him. Phenomenal. 
  • At the Kötcse event, Magyar announced Ágnes Forsthoffer as a tourism expert/advisor to Tisza and named her as deputy of the party. Within a few days, it’s reported that her family business – a hotel on lake Balaton – suffered numerous government-related booking cancellations. They also launch a character assassination campaign against her. Interestingly, she was the Belle of the Anna-ball (a traditional beauty pageant held in Balatonfured) way back when.
  • 9 September: Tisza launches the “Tisza World” app. Something unique in Hungarian politics where Tisza supporters can share information, sign up for volunteering activities and more.
  • 9 September: Russian drones attack or “land in” Poland…the Hungarian government doesn’t seem to initially acknowledge that they are Russian in origin even though Poland is meant to be a long-time close friend/ally of Hungary. Poland calls on more solidarity from Hungary.
  • 10 September: The so-called “Office for the Protection of Sovereignty” tries to “query” Tisza’s new app.
  • 12 September: A train derails due to Hungary’s decrepit transport infrastructure.
  • 13 September: Zsolt Jeszenszky a public persona who supports Fidesz says on TV that if three opposition figures (Aron Molnar, Robert Puzser and Marton Gulyas) died noone would mind on the Right. 
  • 13 September: Tisza holds a volunteers planning day with 1500 volunteers.
  • 14 September: Orban posts a video of him sweeping up stink bugs on a balcony. How embarrassing… is this what the ‘statesman’ is reduced to?
  • Mid-month Tisza launches a campaign to promote its tax policies with millions of leaflets and the Tiszta Hang brochure.
  • 17 September: There is a brouhaha because Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi, former Chief of the Hungarian Defence Forces and now Tisza politician, was photographed carrying a holstered gun at a campaign event. He had the relevant permissions to carry it yet police still went to his home to confiscate it.
  • 17 September: A strange approach where Zsolt Bajer and his co-host analyse what pants a Tisza supporter is wearing.
  • 18 September: Magyar reports that an ambulance officer was fired for wearing a Tisza t-shirt and posting in support of the party on his Facebook page.
  • 20 September: Shockingly, it’s reported that the police captain of Hódmezővásárhely Zsolt Szabó committed suicide after a newspaper (Promenád24) started a personal and professional character assassination against him. The article in question has since been deleted. The local paper is thought to be linked to Fidesz politician Janos Lazar.
  • 20 September: Tisza volunteers drop basic supplies like toilet paper to dozens of hospitals — it’s well known in Hungary that even basic supplies are in short supply.
  • 20 September: Fidesz holds its first big stadium event to launch it’s DPK fan club – Digital Civic Circles.
  • 22 September: Pedophilia cases are raised in the Hungarian parliament with reference to a mysterious senior politician named Zsolt who may have been involved in abusing children. An opposition politician asked, “Who is this Zsolt?” to which deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen stood up to give a viral and emphatic denial which only made the story spread like wildfire.
  • The Szőlő Street Reformatory scandal blows up over the coming weeks and months with numerous CCTV videos released showing the abuse that the juveniles in the state care facilities endured at the hands of staff members. It includes heads being smashed into tables, being kicked on the ground, beatings with objects and even reports of the juveniles being sexually assaulted or pimped out. Multiple arrests are made. It’s alleged that police investigations were slow rolled over 10 years and the implication is that Fidesz people may be involved as they were promoting and awarding certain staff members after numerous allegations had been made.
  • Justice Minister Bence Tuzson claims that in the Szőlő Street case there are no underage victims. This is true – yes and no.
  • 23 September: Magyar starts attending some Q&A events with a cardboard cutout of Orban given the Prime Minister refused to debate Magyar.
  • 25 September: There are reports that government council workers are being forced to hand out Fidesz campaign materials during work hours, on the taxpayer dime.
  • Fidesz and Tisza both release duelling surveys about tax policy.
  • 28 September: Akos Hadhazy hosts a protest and “tour” of the Orban family Hatvanpuszta estate. High profile people like Robert Puzser and András Fekete-Győr attend.
  • 29 September: Orban jumps the shark when he compares Magyar to Szálasi, Rákosi and Mihály Károlyi. 

October

  • 1 October: The second round of “The Nation’s Voice” Tisza survey begins; you can vote through the Tisza World app.
  • 1 October: The Fidesz minister Péter Takács makes incendiary remarks about GPs saying that those medical students become GPs who can’t make it in other areas.
  • Tisza starts the month with a conference on healthcare with experts working together to formulate the party’s healthcare policies. One of those present is the graduate doctor Dr. Csongor Kincse who made an impressive graduation speech
  • 4 October: Magyar reports a lack of drinking water in the Markusovszky hospital in Szombathely
  • 4 October: Magyar does an interview on Fókusz which now has 1 million views
  • 6 October: Tisza politician Zoltán Tarr meets the Pope!
  • Fidesz claims the “Tisza World” app was developed by Ukrainians
  • Mid-month there was talk among Fidesz of bring Judit Varga back into the fold (to annoy Magyar). Orban has been saying that she would have made a good Prime Minister, and Gergo Gulyas met with her to convince her to return to politics. In the end she chose note to.
  • This month Magyar had round table discussions both with a group of elderly people and a group of young people.
  • This month Meta ceased political advertising within the EU – which negatively affects the Fidesz campaign as they have been spending a lot of money on promoting their content which will now have to rely on organic reach.
  • Magyar continues his 80 days around Hungary tour, which will end on October 23rd.
  • Fidesz announces Trump-Putin peace talks to be held in Budapest… within days it’s “postponed”
  • 19 October: Orban hold social media training for his “Fight Club” supporters…revealing regarding their voter database: “Nem állunk jól” (“We’re not doing well”)
  • Fidesz-allied media posts a photo of Magyar on his hands and knees with a leash on held by Manfred Weber of the EU. Disgusting.
  • 23 October: Orban and Magyar hold duelling commemoration rallies for the 1848 revolution. Both draw a big crowd but it’s clear the Tisza one is bigger. The photo above was taken from a commercial plane by someone onboard showing Tisza’s crowd size. It has since become an iconic photo. It was also a memorable day because a journalist managed to stop Orban’s mum at the Fidesz rally and she stopped to give quite a lengthy interview. It appears things are going so badly in Fidesz that mummy has had to step in. And to ensure the day doesn’t pass withous someone from Fidesz saying something insane Fero Nagy says about girls/women taken into a prostitution ring by Peter Pal Juhasz: “A lányok is kerestek pénzt, mindenki jól járt, nem?” (“The girls earned money too, so everyone benefit, right?”)
  • 25 October: Magyar reports on the potential sale of the beautiful interior ministry building in Budapest to a consortium involving Orban’s son-in-law Istvan Tiborcz.
  • Magyar responds to Orban’s announcement of 5 regional invite-only events by announcing competing open air events in each of the 5 towns as well. 
  • The Sziget Festival is brought into doubt because organisers couldn’t come to an agreement with the Budapest City Council, however, in a surprise social post Magyar announces that he has “saved” the event together with the founder Károly Gerendai.
  • Fidesz allies buy another set of news portals: Blikk and Kiskegyed in an attempt to control more of the mainstream media.
  • 30 October: This article goes through some of the trials and tribulations of the Fidesz campaign
  • The population fell below 9.5 million – the lowest figure since the early 1950s

November

  •  The Tisza app is hacked and 200,000 names and personal identifiers (including home addressed) published on media allied with Fidesz. This is probably the most disgusting thing Fidesz allies have done. Within days, Fidesz friends are calling up and showing up at people’s homes who are on the list. This is the worst of the worst.
  • 5 November: The second Nation’s Voice survey is completed
  • 8 November: Orban takes a whole plane-load of his sycophants to the White House. They return “triumphant” with a “financial shield” but weeks later Trump refutes this saying Orban asked for money but Trump didn’t say yes. How ridiculous…
  • 11 November: Orban does one of his first interviews on non-friendly media (with Egon Ronai on ATV). It shows the desperate of the campaign because Orban never “lowered” himself to this kind of interviews in campaigns past. He makes a remarkable statement about not knowing the state of the poor in Hungary — and asks to come back to it in the next interview. The interview goes viral due to Orban’s doodles.
  • 16 November: Tisza holds a duelling even to Fidesz’s one in Gyor.
  • 17 November: Tisza’s process for nominating candidates begins. It entails two rounds of voting. There are three shortlisted candidates per seat and then Tisza supporters can vote in the first round and the general public can vote in the second round resulting on one winner.
  • 19 November: There is a report of a young man who was kicked out of his government job for downloading Tisza’s app (remember the data was leaked and some were harassed as a result). Magyar offers him a job at Tisza. Another example is that of Fidesz propagandists (like Dániel Bohár) calling people who downloaded the Tisza app, including journalists and others.
  • 27 November: It’s reported that someone spat on one of Tisza’s activists Kriszta Bodis as she was manning one of the booths.
  • Minister of the Interior, Sándor Pintér, makes a horrible remark about babies who have been left in state care saying, “nem mi szűltük őket és nem mi hagytuk őket ott” (“We didn’t give birth to them and we didn’t leave them there.”
  • Toward the end of the month Fidesz’s economics minister, Marton Nagy, is caught on video struggling to remember terms relating to minimum wage, and his two aides don’t seem much more on the ball
  • Fidesz-allied media release a fake Tisza tax policy paper…which includes things like an extra tax on pets. 
  • Magyar makes a surprise announcement: László Gajdos will be Tisza’s candidate in one of Nyiregyhaza’s districts — he runs the Nyiregyhaza Zoo and is a popular local figure. Straight away Fidesz people pounced on him with abuse.
  • For a bit of fun, this month ex-Momentum politicians form a fledgling Humanists party — the idea doesn’t seem to have taken off.
  • In late November, Hungarian interpreter Veronika Vaspál significantly mistranslated remarks made by Putin to Orban during a televised meeting. The remarks related to international affairs and Ukraine

December

  • Independent pollsters continue to measure Tisza with a strong lead against Fidesz
  • It’s revealed that Fidesz generated the fake Tisza tax policy document using AI
  • 3 December: Fidesz once again shows its arrogance and incompetence. A dad quested Fidesz politician Péter Takács how it’s possible that there is a lack of lighting and heating at Szent János hospital to which Takács replied, “Úgy bazmeg, hogy elromolhat bármi, amit használnak! Ha elhiszed, hogy Magyar Péter istencsászár parancsára majd a büdös életben SOHA SEMMI nem romlik majd el, akkor jó hülye vagy!” (“It’s fucking ridiculous, anything can break! If you believe that, by the divine emperor Magyar Péter’s command, NOTHING will ever break in your entire life, then you’re really stupid!”)
  • All month there is a drip feed of horrible videos and stories from inside state care institutions like the Szolo Street Reformatory. Underaged boys having their heads smashed into tables, kicked on the ground, hit with sticks and doorhandles. Boys sexusally abused and forced into gay prostitution. Really barbaric stuff. The government had earlier claimed there were “no underaged victims” but it’s abundently clear that there are both underage and overaged victims. Multiple arrests are made of staff, and we are now on the 3rd or 4th interim director because they keep being replaced due to the revelations.
  • 5 December: Magyar tries to get into the Szolo Street Reformatory, which he should be allowed to do as an EU parliamentarian but he is refused.
  • All month Magyar continues to meet local regional communities, hosting Q&As, and handing out Christmas gifts and donations.
  • Orbán makes a ridiculous claim that the faked AI tax policy that they made up and tried to make people believe is Tisza’s legitimate tax policy is true because Magyar’s “signature” is there.
  • Magyar continues to hold duelling events with Orbán’s planned events. They serve to highlight that Fidesz’s ones are invite-only events whereas Tisza’s events are open to everyone
  • Fidesz spokesman Gergo Gulyas tries to muddy the waters about the Szolo Street Reformatory trying to say that its a prison (false) and the kids were criminals (also false).
  • 9 December: Tisza politicians hold a meeting at the Balaton — they call it a “fraction” meeting which is a bit odd as they are not in the parliament yet.
  • 13 December: Tisza organises a huge rally in support of children in state care. The images are incredible (photo below) and it makes international news. In recent days, more has been revealed about how much the government knew about the issues with certain state care workers. 
  • Fidesz politician (responsible for education, no less) Zoltan Maruzsa puts a strange video on TikTok where his staff dance around him to a song that says, “Lassan akarlak megd*gni, felkapcsolt lámpáknál” (“I want to f*ck you slowly with the lights on”). Has Fidesz lost its mind?
  • A new controversy emerges after Slovakia introduced a new law that publicly questioning or criticising the Beneš Decrees is a criminal offence punishable with up to six months in prison. The Beneš Decrees are a series of laws issued in 1945–1946 that stripped ethnic Germans and Hungarians of citizenship, property and civil rights after World War II, based on the principle of collective guilt. They led to mass expulsions, confiscations and long-lasting legal and political disputes. Today, it means Hungarians there face legal risk if they publicly challenge the Beneš Decrees, as questioning them could now be treated as a criminal offense rather than a historical or political debate. The European Commission is investigating whether it conflicts with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Magyar stood in solidarity with Hungarians living in Slovakia demanding the new law be rescinded, whereas Orbán has remained muted on the topic due to his close alliance with Slovakian PM Robert Fico.
  • In another sign of Fidesz’s inability to govern, the third director of the Szolo Street Reformatory resigns in quick succession as police investigations continue.
  • 13 December: Fidesz politician and campaign lead Janos Lazar makes staggering remarks about a Hungarian Tisza candidate, Viktoria Strompová, who was born and raised in Slovakia (Felvidék), saying that Tisza should have found a Hungarian candidate not a Slovakian one. Strompová is Hungarian and has lived in Hungary for 16 years, albeit she was born in modern-day Slovakia and only got her citizenship recently. It’s a very strange remark because it implies that Hungarians who live outside of Hungary aren’t “real” Hungarians.
  • 19 December: Fidesz had planned to drop a copy of Bors magazine into more than 4 million households with false information on Tisza’s proposed tax policies. The courts thankfully banned this attempt at propaganda on the taxpayer dime.
  • 20 December: Tisza holds a duelling rally with Fidesz’s — Tisza in the open air, Fidesz in the Pick Arena with invite-only access. Viktoria Strompová makes an impassioned speech about being Hungarian.
  • Just before Christmas Tisza holds events handing out food to people in need.
  • 21 December: An interview between Nóra Szily and Magyar sets off an unexpected firestorm with Magyar’s ex-wife Judit Varga posting on social media just the word “Hanyinger!” (“Nauseous!”). It’s unclear what exactly Fidesz didn’t like about the interview as it’s quite innocuous — and clearly just an attempt for Magyar to connect with older women voters. Naturally, the Tisza response is fierce with many wondering where Varga’s nausea was regarding kids in state care… or regarding the Fidesz government which she herself equated with the mafia. Magyar continues to only ever speak highly of his ex-wife.
  • 22 December: Truck drivers stage a protest after Fidesz proposes to implement additional road taxes.
  • 28 December: Fidesz propagandists continue their disgusting behaviour by attacking Magyar’s mum with an article headlined: “Poloskát mikor kiszarta a kommunista anyja, két hétig bottal piszkálták, nem tudták mi az” (“When the communist mother shat out the bug, they poked it with a stick for two weeks, not knowing what it was”)
  • Ricky Martin is invited to perform at Lorincz Meszaros’s company Christmas Party — but self-appointed corruption watchdog Akos Hadhazy reveals the surprise beforehand.
  • It’s reported that police singled out political commentator Robert Puzser and surrounded his home at checking people leaving his Christmas party for drugs.

(This article is continuously updated even after the original publication date)

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